Tag Archives: being gay and black

Five time NBA champion and three time MVP Earvin “Magic” Johnson said in an interview with CNNs Anderson Cooper that he love and supports his son EJ Johnson who is gay. But for the most of the black community being a member of the LGBT community especially being a gay man is unacceptable.

A big majority of the older black gay community lives in the ‘ down low. But what is the down low? The term down low means when a person is posing as heterosexual in his public life but in his private life is as gay as can be. These people have a wife and kids that they are lying to. In their private life’s are going to massage parlors or to bath houses to sewers their sexual needs.
The problem with people in the down low is the torment of being gay and not being honest about their Selves and not protecting themselves. The biggest percentage HIV infections in America are Man who have sex with other man but not identifying as gay, this group of people are having sex with out protection, that is condoms.

Religion plays a big part on why many black people are in the Down Low., Black Protestant churches are more conservatives specially in the southern United States. A part of that is also the culture of being gay in America, is being gay. Being Gay is just for white people. Gay black men is particularly hard because of the Dobble minority complex.

In any culture, but specially black community being a gay man is so hard because of the expectation of the family and the of community. Furthermore, Black families are tightnit as if they bitraing their families. Finally, being gay is not a choice, being in the down low is.